


hold it to the light

by withoutwords



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Domesticity, Established Relationship, Fluff, Humour, Jealousy, M/M, Not-So-Distant Future Fic, Some Mild Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 03:27:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15572733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withoutwords/pseuds/withoutwords
Summary: “What’s your problem?” Aaron asks as he thumbs at an avocado to check if it’s ripe. “You’ve got veins poppin’ out of your head.”“What? I don’t.”“Yeah, you do. The same as the other night when we lost at trivia to Vic and Matty.”“They cheated and you know it! No-one knows the capital of Uzbekistan, what a joke.”





	hold it to the light

**Author's Note:**

> This focuses a lot on jealousy so if that’s not your bag please give it a miss! Thanks everyone :)

There’s a new guy working at the grocers – a little younger than Aaron, maybe, with great hair and a great smile and the kind of laugh that turns peoples heads.

Robert hates him.

(Diane used to tell him _we don’t hate in this house_ – but Robert’s always been too good at it. Why waste talent?) 

“What’s your problem?” Aaron asks as he thumbs at an avocado to check if it’s ripe. “You’ve got veins poppin’ out of your head.” 

“What? I don’t.”

“Yeah, you do. The same as the other night when we lost at trivia to Vic and Matty.”

“They cheated and you know it! No-one knows the capital of Uzbekistan, what a joke.”

“Right,” Aaron says, with that teasing smile that mocks him so much he wants to kiss it away. “Sure. I’ll believe that as long as you believe there’s nothin’ wrong with you.”

“There’s not! It’s just – that guy, at the counter.”

“Eddie?”

“ _You know his name_?”

“Of course I know his name, plod. I’m in here like, three times a week.”

“Right,” Robert concedes with a sigh. With Rebecca back and well again, and things settled down at home, he’d hoped to be able to do these things more. Grocery shopping, and cooking for the four of them, and maybe going out once and a while. Or staying in. Or hell, even _planning a wedding_.

Except, instead, he’s had back to back meetings for weeks while Aaron’s been shopping, and fraternising, and making friends with beautiful checkout boys called _Eddie_.

“You’re doing that face again,” Aaron mutters, dropping the basket onto the counter and giving Eddie a grin. “Alright?”

“Aaron! Hello, hello. How’s things?”

“Oh, yeah. The same. We’re just getting some stuff for dinner.”

“Nice, nice,” Eddie says with a smile, pulling their items out one by one to scan them and drop them into a box. He’s slow, and casual, his shoulders back like he’s having a pint with his mates at the pub. “Planning something romantic are you Rob?”

“It’s Robert,” he says flatly, and Aaron digs an elbow into his ribs.

“Ignore him; he’s still sore about losing that meat tray to his sister.”

Eddie laughs. It sets Robert’s teeth on edge. “Oh, mate, don’t get me started. I lost a Mario Kart tournament and had to give my little brother my entire collection of Avengers figurines. It hurt, man.”

Aaron’s giving him one of those genuine smiles, and they’re chatting easily, and their words and stories bubble over Robert like a wave pulling back into the ocean. He drifts away and doesn’t listen and doesn’t let the heat in his gut get the better of him. He’s _your_ fiancée, he loves _you_ , it doesn’t matter what Eddie wants, Aaron’s _yours_.

“Oh my God,” Aaron cries when they’re out of there and far enough away they won’t be heard. “You’re jealous of the guy who packs our groceries.”

“What!” Robert splutters, feeling his face flush and hoping it comes off as surprise and not complete embarrassment.

“You’re jealous! Oh, this is hilarious. I cannot wait to tell Liv - ”

“I’m not jealous!”

“Yes, you are. _It’s Rob_ ,” he says, apparently trying to imitate Robert. “ _Yeah, thanks. Sure, bye._ ”

“I don’t sound like - ”

“No, you sound worse,” Aaron says, wiping at an eye and still smiling. “Oh man, I thought jealousy was just going to be my thing, but this is something else.”

Robert would like to give him a push, laugh and move on. But Aaron’s right. His jealousy and Robert’s stupidity cost them a lot, once, and he doesn’t want that to happen again.

“I don’t like the way he flirts with you,” he tells Aaron seriously, and the way he says it must be enough for Aaron to take notice. He stops smiling.

“Robert, come on,” he says gently, rubbing at Robert’s arm.

“I don’t! I mean, I’m standing right there and he acts like I don’t even exist.”

“He flirts with everyone! He’d flirt with you if you weren’t so mean to ‘im!”

Robert scoffs. A big, loud, sad sound that makes Aaron stop walking and stand in front of him. He’s got a speck of something green in his hair – probably because they cut through the back way into town and almost spent the whole afternoon making out against some tree – and his ears are a little red from the sun and it clutches at Robert’s heart just how perfect he is.

Just how lucky Robert is.

“I’m serious, Robert,” Aaron says, and there’s a hint of a smile back. “He told me flat out that you could only be more his type if you wore cut offs and boat shoes.”

“Jesus,” Robert says, shaking his head at their groceries as if it’s _their_ fault.

“He thinks you’re _well fit_.”

“He said that to you?”

“We laughed about it! He’s a great bloke. I like him.” Aaron must see the way Robert’s jaw twitches, because he quickly amends, “Not – not like that! God, Robert.”

“I know!” Robert cries, and he’s kind of glad that the more they talk about it the more he realises how ridiculous he sounds. “I’m sorry, it’s stupid.”

“It is a bit, yeah,” Aaron teases, and Robert nudges at him with the box.

“Shut up. I just – I know I haven’t been around enough, and I know that we’re missing out on a lot. Me with work, and Seb, and you with ya mum - ”

“It’s just tough right now. It’ll get better.”

“I know. I just – I miss ya. I feel like Eddie The Grocer gets to see you more than me and _fine_ , I’m jealous. I am. But who wouldn’t be? You’re my life, Aaron, without you I couldn’t function, I -”

Aaron wrenches at the box that’s still between them, muttering, “Would you put this bloody thing down,” and breaking the space between them. He kisses Robert like he had earlier, like he’s moments away from getting a hand down his pants and giving a whole new meaning to PDA.

“Um,” Robert says around a breath, pulling away. “I really hate to stop you but this probably isn’t - ”

“I love you so much,” Aaron cuts in, shocking him, pressing their foreheads together and pulling at the front of Robert’s shirt. “I mean, it’s not Eddie’s fault life’s crazy right now but I get it, okay? And you _are_ well fit, you’re beautiful and sexy and an _amazing_ shag,”

“Oi!”

“But this goes so deep now, Rob, _you know that_. We’re tied at the roots, me and you. Nothing’s getting between this. Not this time.”

It’s Robert’s turn to lunge for Aaron, hands cupping his face and breath stolen. “I love you too,” Robert says between kisses, and he tries to remember when he last said it. Yesterday? The day before? He should be able to remember. “I love you, I love you.”

“I know.”

“And to prove it,” Robert says into Aaron’s neck, clutching him tight. “I’ll try and be nicer to Eddie.”

Aaron laughs into Robert shoulder. “Don’t. He’ll probably explode and then I’d have no-one to talk to about how sexy you are.”

He huffs. (He loves him so much.) “Idiot.”

**Author's Note:**

> The capital of Uzbekistan is Tashkent. Just in case you ever need to know, haha.
> 
>  
> 
> [Tumblr.](http://thefancyspin.tumblr.com)


End file.
